Fastening clips and fasteners are primarily used in automotive manufacture in order to attach mounted parts or trim parts to the body or to body parts such as door or the like. It should be possible to accomplish the attachment as easily as possible and without the aid of tools here, but the attachment should also be releasable in order to be able to carry out maintenance and repairs. On the one hand, the attachment should ensure high retention forces, but, on the other hand, it should permit nondestructive removal force. Moreover, it is frequently necessary to compensate for dimensional deviations in the parts in the region of the fasteners.
Various fasteners of the specified type are known, for example from EP 0,020,308 A1, EP 1,895,171 A2, U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,607 B1. The prior art fasteners have in common that a pin-like element is provided as a connecting part, which is connected to the support part in a locking manner by insertion in an opening of the support part. In this context, the support part must have openings at the fastening points with the result that additional means such as an umbrella-like washer, and possibly additional sealing rings, must be provided so that these openings can be tightly sealed during installation of the mounted or trim parts.
In addition, a device for fastening a sound insulating panel to the body of a motor vehicle is known from WO 02/072390 A1, in which the body has a stud on which can be placed a one-piece fastening element made of plastic. In this design, the fastening element made of plastic is arranged in an opening in the sound insulating panel, and an annular flange of the fastener engages around the sound insulating panel on the side facing away from the car body. Release of the attachment in this design can only be accomplished by overcoming the retention force, and may result in damage to the fastening element.
Furthermore, a plastic clip for fastening a trim strip to the body of a motor vehicle is known from EP 0,489,505 B1, which clip latches together with a T-shaped stud welded to the body panel and has lateral locking fingers that engage in opposing grooves on the inside of the trim strip that is bent in a U-shape. With this clip, too, release must take place in opposition to the retention force.